After three long years of a cabinet with no door, I finally have a great kitchen cabinet idea for you: curtains for cabinet doors.
What do you think? I think it looks really nice. Let me show you where I started and give you a tutorial on how to make curtains for cabinet doors.
This is what I have looked at for the last three years. A cabinet with no door…right next to a floor vent. Which, while I am on the subject, let me just tell the architect who designed our house….a floor vent right next to a stove in a kitchen is a VERY BAD idea! It gets so disgusting. Anyway, that is completely not the topic. The vent does, however, blow air and dust into the cabinet. Lovely!
The cabinet door cracked and broke 3 years ago when Mr. T was unemployed. We got quotes to get the door fixed. They wanted $150 to fix the one door. We couldn’t find any doors that matched through other venues. Mr. T was unemployed and then employed with a $20,000 pay cut, so we decided to live with the cabinet open. I always had in the back of my mind that I would sew a curtain for the cabinet, but as with most people, time slips away and things don’t get done (until you start blogging and have deadlines for posts and such…thank you all for continuing to come back. I’m getting so much done around my house, thanks to you!)
Two days after Christmas, we adopted a new family member. Pepper is a 9 month old kitten. He is curious and likes to explore the cabinet. Let me just say what you are thinking…ewwww! Yep, so thanks to you all and a curious cat, I finally got around to sewing the curtain for the cabinet.
To sew the curtain for the cabinet, I went simple. I measured the width and height. Mine was 17.75″ x 20.5″. I knew I wanted my curtain to have a 1.25″ ‘pocket’ at the top for the rod. I doubled the width of the cabinet to have adequate fabric and ruffle. I cut my fabric 35.5″ wide by 24.25″ long. The 24.25″ was because I wanted my curtain to be 22″ long. I added 1″ for the hem and 1.25″ for the pocket at the top. I probably should have added an additional inch, but they work OK.
If you want to make your own curtains like these. measure your width and height. Double your width and add 2.25″ to 3.25″ to your length.
To sew the curtain, iron your 1/2″ hem to the entire piece of fabric and sew that hem. Iron the top of your fabric down 1.25″ to 1.5″ and sew at the bottom of that fold to make a pocket into which your tension rod can slide. Pretty, easy and done! Now let me show you a little trick.
Remember how I told you we got a curious cat right after Christmas? I wanted to make sure the cat couldn’t get into the cabinet. I used Velcro to keep the curtain in place.
I used a sticky back Velcro on the cabinet, but the sticky back Velcro didn’t stay put on the fabric. To solve that problem, I cut pieces of sewable Velcro and sewed them to the bottom of the curtain. It works great, not only to keep the cat out, but it also keeps the curtains looking all nicely ruffled all the time.
Now lest you think the curtains have ended my kitchen woes…. I liked the curtain so much on the one cabinet and thought hat just the one curtain would look weird, I made curtains for all three of the cabinets on this wall. That meant I lost two cabinet doors under my sink that used to hold my compost bin and an organizer that held all my foil and wraps. Now, I have a totally disorganized under sink cabinet. Another day, another day!
I am super happy with how the curtains turned out and I love how they look. It is so nice to walk into my kitchen and see a completed look rather than an open, dusty cabinet. It makes me smile . Now some day I need to tackle my eventual goal…painting the kitchen cabinets. I have wanted to paint them since we moved into this house 6 years ago, but it scares me….so I keep putting it off. I already know what color I want them, but it won’t happen anytime soon. Not only does it scare me, it is a fairly good sized investment that we can’t make yet.
Do you have any projects that you have been avoiding getting to? Any you have gotten done that make you happy?
Such a great idea to place in for the missing door. The fabric you chose looks beautiful with the wood cabinets too. 🙂 Megan
Thank you so much! I like the fabric as well. I think it would look great with cream colored cabinets as well…which is what I want to do to the cabinets someday.
KC
That is a good idea. Been thinking about doing something similar for our pantry doors…they are always open and we’re constantly running into them. Curtains would simplify the roomie-ness of the kitchen. Love the velcro on the bottom.
You are the second person who I’ve heard of that is thinking of doing a curtain for a doorway…seems like it would work. Thanks, the Velcro at the bottom is working to keep the cat out…so that works well.
KC
What a fun idea! So pretty.
Would love for you to come over and share at my linky party Finding the Pretty & Delicious Linky Party.
https://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/finding-the-pretty-delicious-linky-party-2/
Thank you!
KC
Nice fix! I’ve been wanting to do this for a cabinet in our pop-up trailer. The space is quite wide so I am not sure I could find a tension rod that wide or that it would stay. I’ve considered just stapling it in place since it’s underneath storage. Not very pretty, but it would get the job done. Have to wait til camping season and we open up the trailer. Love the velcro tip!
I think the Velcro would work in your camper. I’ve seen Candice Olsen on her HGTV show use Velcro to put up valance curtains and other things. I think they might staple gun the one Velcro to the wood then sew the other piece of velcro to the curtains. That way you can change it anytime you want or get sick of the fabric.
Have fun with your camper! Hope I get to see pics if you decide to do it.
KC
So lovely!!! Love the fabric too! Thanks so much for sharing! Would love to have you visit me sometime.
Have a fabulous week!
Hugs from Portugal,
Ana Love Craft
http://www.lovecraft2012.blogspot.com
Thank you!
KC
Very cute! I love fabric so I think curtains always look better than doors.
Thank you! I really like the fabric look as well. It adds some additional color and texture.
KC
I love it! It is so adorable! I much prefer it over the door!
If only I had the courage to do something that adorable in my own house…..
hugs x
Crystelle
Thanks! You can totally do something like this in your own house! It really wasn’t hard and since you seem to like the look, you should totally go for it.
KC
we have did this in many apartments that we lived in early in life love the fabric you chose
come see what i shared at https://shopannies.blogspot.com
Thanks! That sounds like a great idea to add some flair to an apartment. I bet it would look really nice.
KC
Such a sweet project!
I’d love for you to stop by and link this up at my link party, which is live right now. It is for new and OLD projects!
https://www.dosmallthingswithlove.com/2013/01/an-oldie-but-good-link-party-3.html
Hope to see you there!
Thank you!
KC
Love your curtains. I am thinking of making some for my cabinets in my barn. Great way to get a great look and still hide everything.
Have a great week. I am your newest follower.
Bev
https://eclecticredbarn.blogspot.com
Thank you! I bet curtains for cabinets in a barn would look fantastic.
I hope you have a great week as well!
KC
Looks fantastic and you sure got some creativity!
I found you over at the MBC.
Thank you!
KC
I am in the process of doing my bathroom cabinets like this! When i saw your pic on Kitchen Fun I had to come by and see the whole thing!!
That is great! How did your bathroom cabinets turn out? I hope they look fantastic and that you love them.
KC
These are so cute! Love the fabric you chose too! 😉
Have a great weekend!
Brenda @ChattingOverChocolate.blogspot.com
Thank you!
KC
Hello!
Show and Tell Saturday at Sassy Little Lady is LIVE! I’d love to have you share your post!
https://www.sassylittlelady.com/blog/show-and-tell-saturday/show-and-tell-saturday-2
Kathie
Thanks!
KC
I have been thinking about doing something similar to my sink in the kitchen. I would not have thought to use velcro at the bottom of the curtains to keep the cat out, but that is an excellent idea. She always wanders into any cabinet left open. Thanks for the inspiring photos.
Thank you, the Velcro is working great. If only I could get my husband to Velcro them back it would work all the time. 😉
KC
And it looks great. I have an open cabinet that my tv sits on and I did that to it….hides the VCR and stuff.
Thank you! I bet yours looks great because electronics are not the most pretty things in the world. Great idea!
KC
Very cute! I actually like the curtains better than doors anyway. And the velcro idea…BRILLIANT!
Thank you! The Velcro is working really well.
KC
AHH!! I was JUST over the weekend talking to my son about doing this to my kitchen! I have the same problem with a missing door on one of my cabinets. When I mentioned this idea he kinda frowned up his face and said, “yeah…I don’t know how that will look.” I decided to check Pinterest because of course that is where ALL of the fabulous ideas are! Now I have a better idea of what I can do!
Thanks!
Well, not to sound rude, but my husband said the same thing about the curtains…men! I’m so glad my project could give you an idea of solving your own cabinet dilemma. Hope you find something that works well for you and that you love!
KC
We did this in our bathrooms. I was actually able to buy curtains to fit. It works great.
Oh, that is great that you found some to buy. That sure would make this super easy.
Take care,
KC
This is just what I have searched for. Thank you, thank you.
Thinking about doing this in my kitchen!
I had a house fire and we bought a piece of property with an older mobile home on it but the property for the price is BREATHTAKING!! We want to build soon so just doing cheap lil bits to make it look nicer and all and in my kitchen this is what I am doing, the previous owner really let it go so the cabinets made of cheap paper I say were basically falling apart and we are in the process of just adding open shelviong up top and curtains everywhere else, and I am using chicken fence and reclaimed wood to frame out some doors for the big pantry cabinets